Tuesday, May 13, 2008

We all have one. You know, that uncle who makes you fear for the family gene pool.

Of course some have it worse than others.

Case in point, the email and pic below which we recently received at the MZone home office.

"I wanted to send this to you, but had to doctor it a little since it is one of my favorite uncles. Wife found it first and her exact quote was "OH NO" I am a Wolverine and she likes the Buckeyes. She shouldn't have shown it to me."

Sweet Jesus.

Two (of many) things come to mind.

First, "But it's a really old picture" is not a defense for the above. There is no time period where that was acceptable. Ever.

Second, I pray -- pray -- that this was actually supposed to be a half shirt.

In the annual tradition of wildly guessing whose the best college football team, ESPN has released its post-Spring top 25. Believe it or not, I'm stunned that OSU highlights the list. Most pre-Spring lists had us somewhere in the top 5, but nobody wanted to put us in the top 2. Now ESPN goes ahead and does the unthinkable by putting OSU at the very top.

However, me thinks ESPN had a slight alterior motive for this list. How do you get people to talk football in May? Well how about putting the team nobody outside of Ohio wants to see at the top? Want to really get the emails pouring in? Put some verbage that would suggest that OSU makes it to the NC game even if they lose to their most highly ranked opponent, then suggest Georgia might be a better team, but will ultimately be held back to a tough schedule. Everyone South of the Mason Dixon is going to have carpel tunnel syndrome from writing in hate mail.

Also, note that Sparty makes the list at #24. WBNS The Fan here in Columbus is up in arms about this. Can't say I blame them. I can't think of any logical arguments for why Sparty should debut in the top 25. Thoughts?

well, its not exactly SI's top 25. it's the columnist, Mark Schlabach's 25. mandel has his own, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/05/01/spring.rankings/index.htm,

which has UGa #1 (and tosu #2). no that it matters much.

either way, i doubt that there will be huge uproar about where tosu starts once the real polls come out in july/august. the usc game is 9/13. if tosu wins, no one will doubt their ranking. if they lose, it won't matter anyway.

I think I prefer Mandel's simply because I don't think OSU has earned the top spot until they show they can beat a top team. I've always felt our whole season boils down to that USC game anyway. If we win, nobody can second guess us. If we lose, we don't deserve to be there anyway. And while I'm sure people are going to come out of the woodwork to say OSU doesn't belong, people will overlook the fact that OU is ranked #3 after coming off a blowout loss to WVU. And nobody is going to call Georgia out for the way beats its chest over defeating Hawaii.

If we get to the NC game I hope we're taking on Georgia. We need to play the best the SEC has to offer if we want to legitimize a win.

I think I prefer Mandel's simply because I don't think OSU has earned the top spot until they show they can beat a top team. I've always felt our whole season boils down to that USC game anyway. If we win, nobody can second guess us. If we lose, we don't deserve to be there anyway. And while I'm sure people are going to come out of the woodwork to say OSU doesn't belong, people will overlook the fact that OU is ranked #3 after coming off a blowout loss to WVU. And nobody is going to call Georgia out for the way beats its chest over defeating Hawaii.

If we get to the NC game I hope we're taking on Georgia. We need to play the best the SEC has to offer if we want to legitimize a win.

The disnESPN rankings are always a joke. MSU and PSU at the bottom of the list. You have got to love the quote: "If Michigan State can rebuild both of its lines and replace top receivers Devin Thomas and Kellen Davis, they might win those close games in 2008." Yeah, so, there you have it. Rebuilt both lines, replace your top receivers, and your top TE and you have a top-25 team. Real nice.

Id personally love to see TUO$ make it to the NC game again and get routed by GA. Not that I like either team but being in the heart of OH and having to deal with TUO$ fanboys on a daily basis it's the only weapon I've had lately is reminding them about their championship games. Basketball included.

And I like not having UM in the top 25 because it's better to climb the ladder then fall down it.

which brings me to odd facts I heard on npr re: the upcoming primary in West Virginia--home of Rich Roddidja know that a) WV has the second oldest population in the nation behind Florida? b) WV has the lowest number of college graduates per capita of any state in the nation, and c) WV is pretty close to the whitest state in America

"That stat is probably deceiving. i'd guess that wva sends a higher proportion of kids to college than a lot of other states but they don't stay once they graduate."

Completely true. WVU conducted a recent study that showed only 38% of 1996 grads still lived in WV and only 58% who graduated in 2005. No jobs, unless you're a coal miner or you sell airbrushed "Fuck Rich Rod" shirts at the "mall."

Catie,Give WVU some credit. I mean we do have most of our offense coming back including PWhite/Devine and we did manage to destroy Oklahoma without RR. Our program may fall apart with the new coach, but I think it will be after this year (when Pat White leaves).

WVU does return Pat White and Devine which is basically the only reason the program is being held together. Rich Rod made WVU what it is now and with him gone so too go the recruits that may have come there. What other possible reason would any decent level player want to go to WVU? In 2 years I don't think WVU will be a top 25 school for years to come until they make another major change.

LSU dropped because they dropped their QB. Until they've proven themselves in some games they are low. MSU being ranked 24th in that poll is a joke. PSU ranked is basically because of Jopa they always have to rank him or he'll have a stroke on the spot and nobody wants that. But either way you can't have rankings until a team has played a game. I wish they would do away with preseason rankings alltogether.

Nate, couldn't agree more. My usual rule of thumb is that it takes at least 1 year for a program to gets its old coach out of its system, then you get more insight into whether the coaching change was good or bad in the second year. In WVU's case I think they'll have a good year this year and then start to deteriorate. But they will have the argument that they're rebuilding after losing Pat White. Of course I could be wrong, but that's my prediction at this point in time.

FWIW, here is Stewrt Mandel's preseason assessment of Michigan's team this year ...

I see you leave out the University of Michigan in your spring rankings. Even with the new coach, the new system and a question mark at QB, you don't see them as a top 25 team?-- Aaron Wolfgang, Ft. Jackson, S.C.Isn't that like saying, "Even with the ongoing mortgage crisis, plunging stock market and $4-a-gallon gas, you don't see the economy doing well?"If they haven't already, I would strongly advise all Michigan fans to significantly lower their usual expectation level this coming season. I saw it for myself this spring, and I've talked to fellow writers who visited Ann Arbor as well. All of us came away with the same impression that it's going to be pretty ugly for the Wolverines in Rich Rodriguez's first season. (Rodriguez has insinuated as much himself.) They have no quarterback, no offensive linemen, no experienced receivers, and because it's a completely new system, none of them have any idea what they're doing out there.Fortunately Michigan has enough talent on defense to avoid a Notre Dame-level meltdown, but a 6-6 year is a very real possibility. These things are often inevitable whenever there's a coaching change, and that's why I'd advise Michigan followers to lower their immediate expectations. Take heart in the fact that Jim Tressel went 7-5 his first season in Columbus (though he did beat Michigan), Pete Carroll went 6-6 his first season at USC ... and Rodriguez went 3-8 his first season at West Virginia. All three won at least five more games the following year.

SiC - Are you talking to me? I didn't say you guys would go 6-6. You'd have to ask Mandel if you want an answer to that. However for the sake of argument I will rank your schedule from what I see as toughest to easiest ...

Frankly I could envision a wide range of scenarios, but if you lost to ND, I guess you could say IMO 6-6 isn't out of the question for the season. However I would like to point out that I'm NOT making that prediction.

Would you agree with this ranking of relative strength? I haven't done too much research or even looked at which ones are home and away, which could affect my rankings.

That's a pretty easy schedule. Hard to see 6 losses, but WVU did lose to Temple in RR's 1st year. Given you guys have much more talent than that team did but if players don't know the system, talent can't really make up for it. Look at Notre Dame.

SiC - I would agree with your assessment. I looked strictly at how good I expected the teams to be, but I think you're dead on about when the teams meet being a big factor. As long as you can run the ball, which seems to be the bright spot on your offense, I expect you guys to beat the weaker competition.

I think Wiscy and Illinois might be in for a step back this season, but if not, they're giong to be a real handful. I don't expect ND to light the world on fire, but both of your teams have too many unknowns for any kind of comparison. However I do think the bad blood between you guys and Purdue, ND, and MSU will make all those contests just a little tougher.

I'd watch out for Toledo and Miami this year. It seems every year the MAC steps up and takes down a bigger name early in the season. Those are the "gotcha" games nobody wants to get caught looking past.

sgt,i'm not sure this year's opener isn't a good candidate. Utah has a good team and returns a lot of experienced players. seeing how it's the first game, i think it's the most dangerous of the four non conference games.

my pet theory for the season is that we'll steadily improve as the year goes on. that's why i can see a loss to Utah or Wisco in September but hold out hope for games in October/November.

i think November could be particularly fun. we play @ Purdue, @ Minn, home w/ NU, and @ Tosu. we have what could be 3 tune up games to prepare for tosu.

don't know why, but i suddenly have this flash back of natalie wood, on christmas day after she didn't get the new house she asked kris kringle for, sitting in the back of the car on the way home to new york in "Miracle on 34th Street" chanting,

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